PSE + HPE vs. PS?

I've been using PSE2 for a couple of months, and am picking up (slowly, but hopefully surely!), the techniques (and tools) of HPE...

I'm an educator, so I am in the (enviable?) position of being to (legally!) buy Photoshop for about $280 (vs. the $40 I spent on PSE2).

I am not a digital artist. My only current interest is in entering the amateur digital imaging business (as a hobby), so I want to be able to improve the photographs I have and will take in the future.

I'm curious if folks with experience with both products would find the additional capabilities of PS worth getting at $280 vs. sticking with PSE2 with the benefit of the HPE tools (at no more cost than I've spent already!).

I haven't used both but am in almost the same spot as you... I have decided to work hard to exhaust all my options with elements before throwning away the cash for the full version. I haven't run into anything yet that I need to do and can't but I am just a newbie. If it wasn't for HPE I would already have spent the money... Thanks Richard.

Glad that Hidden Power is helping you realize the potential of Elements gbbiv!

Camner, I really think that getting Photoshop should be something that you will know you need rather than think you need -- or maybe just even want. Many people will tell you that PS is the only way to go, but I would ask those same people "Why?" Most of the time you will get answers like "there's no Channels or curves or CMYK...and if you have my book, you know that isn't true.

The main difference as I see it (and I've been using PS for a while professionally) is that you can't edit in 16 bit, you can't record actions, and you don't have a Pen tool (though you can edit paths). If you don't need these, there are other solutions in Elements that will take care of what you need.

Personally, after 10+ years of professional Photoshop use, I had my employer get me Elements to save the budget for something else. I still use Photoshop, and I'm actually writing a book on it now, but it just isn't necessary for everyone, in fact, that's exactly what the bulk of the book is about.

If those differences are the only significant ones, I would agree that my kind of use doesn't need "full" PS.

The only thing I might add that at least as of right now, it seems that a large number of PS actions won't run in PSE, though I know Richard and others are working on that, for which we users are grateful!

The main difference as I see it (and I've been using PS for a while professionally) is that you can't edit in 16 bit, you can't record actions, and you don't have a Pen tool (though you can edit paths).

I have read some things about editing in 16 bit, and I was wondering how big a difference in quality is 16bit over 8bit?